Tuesday, March 31, 2015

Roy and two cohorts drove from New York to LA in 26 hours 28 minutes in an Infiniti Q50 powered by a modified GT-R engine. It had radar absorbing paint, smokescreen, and NASCAR-style pit crews along the way. The most inspired part of the story? Dual steering wheels to eliminate time wasted switching drivers.

As many of you know, Indiana just passed a law purporting to protect Christians from being persecuted. The example most often given is that a conservative Christian florist should not be forced to do business with a gay couple for their wedding.

The governor, who has delusional aspirations to become President, claims that the law was meant only to defend freedom, not to take away gay rights. When looking into a law, it's always helpful to examine which constituencies supported its passage. Here is a picture of Governor Pence and the gang, with annotations from the Southern Poverty Law Center:

And for a more light-hearted take, this is from Mad magazine (remember them?):

Saturday, March 28, 2015

I can remember only three convertibles in my high school parking lot. A white FC RX-7 belonging to my chemistry teacher (she had so many problems with it, Mazda shipped it back to Japan for repair), a white Geo Metro belonging to a student, and a blue Celica belonging to a guy named Boris. Boris always drove it with the top down (probably because the top was such a pain in the ass to put back up) with his girlfriend. They were two years older than me and they seemed so mature, like they were in their 20s!

No one at school drove a Mustang convertible. In the mid-90s, I test drove a co-worker's Mustang LX convertible. It was looser than a Gumby doll after 20 minutes in the convection oven. He bought it brand new when he was 19 and working as a bellboy at a swanky San Francisco hotel. I guess guests tipped generously. Frankly, driving that thing on the narrow streets of Berkeley was terrifying. It was loud, obnoxious, and had horrible steering, braking, and handling. It literally felt like it was going to fall apart.

Thursday, March 26, 2015

I'm getting excited about attending the Long Beach race in nine days. My take so far is that the series is more gimmick than substance. Here is a billboard. Note how it touts drivers (not Alain) Prost, (not Ayrton) Senna, and Piquet (not Sr.).

Tuesday, March 24, 2015

I'll probably be staying in Nagoya for a few days when I go to Japan, as it is the largest city near the race track. I googled Nagoya's food specialty and it's hitsumabushi. Apparently, the custom is to eat it four ways:
1. By itself with rice
2. Topped with a bunch of seasonings
3. Pour broth over it
4. Eat it any way you like

Saturday, March 21, 2015

I haven't quite processed it yet, but I bought my tickets to Japan last night. My car nut cousin (whose wife, I kid you not, was an F1 grid girl back in the 1990s) might join me. We shall see. Let's hope it doesn't rain.

The election in Israel is imminent. Netanyahu is going up against the Herzog/Livni duo. If the duo wins, Herzog agreed to serve the first two years as PM, and Livni the second two years. Herzog is seen as lacking gravitas and Livni as a flip flopper. That's all you need to know for these two ads.

For more background this Economist article gives a great synopsis. This one explains the coalitions that need to be built for either camp to gain a majority.

Thursday, March 12, 2015

Tuesday, March 10, 2015

I'm working on a piece for Hooniverse, but there are simply too many photos!

First, the secret. Anyone can visit the "private" collection. The warehouse is on the premises of the Citroen Aulnay-sous-Bois plant. It's just outside Paris, two RER train stops from CDG airport. We took the train to Villepinte station and walked 30 minutes through a park, and arrived at the Conservatoire. Just make sure you make a reservation by emailing the staff. They speak enough English to get by. Writing to them in French is preferable.

Here we are, waiting excitedly outside for the door to open. About 20 other car geeks were also waiting. Most were locals. There was a guy from Sardinia visiting. He and I were the only foreigners and we basically communicated by pointing and miming.

In the lobby is this crushed XM on the wall.

I saw this on the wall as I walked out of the men's room.

The moment of truth. The young docent opened the double doors to the collection. The stench aroma of old cars hit us. People cursed in disbelief in at least three languages. This guy's expression is pretty representative. So in this series of shots, I am panning from left to right.

The tour was chronological. I wasn't really into pre-war cars, so I got distracted with random memorabilia.

This is a recreation of Andre Citroen's office.

This is the Evo-Mobil. It's a 2010 piece, "at the border of hypothesis and contemporary art". It is supposed to represent 400 years of mobility.

Five of these 1922 P2 half-tracks trekked from Algeria to Timbuktu in 20 days.

Some very early 2CVs

The entire back wall consisted solely of rally cars.

Notice this is a two-door.

Here is a James Bond For Your Eyes Only-edition 2CV. I was kind of surprised the faux bullet holes were just stickers.

Two-engined, four-wheel drive 2CV Sahara. I was trying to mime to the Sardinian that it's four wheel drive. The Sardinian was trying to mine to me that it has two motors. It was bliss.

Hermes-edition 2CV.

This is a 1974 prototype for a luxury 2CV.

From the same guy who created the Evo-Mobil, this UFO is an homage to the DS.

Check out the exhausts on that SM!

The FAF was assembled all over the world. It's basically a metal-bodied version of the Mehari.

This monstrosity was the 1960 C60. It was supposed to be a mid-sized car between the Ami and the DS. It combines elements from the Ami (like the raked rear window) and the DS (like the sloping hood).